Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor implied. If you could repeat previously discredited memes or steer the conversation into irrelevant, off topic discussions, it would be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.

“The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds.” -John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (13 December 1935)

Boston Globe Staff photographer Essdras M Suarez experienced a two week safari in Kenya and Tanzania this year. Here is a selection of what he captured and thoughts upon his return:

As a photojournalist, you’re always looking to capture moments that define life. In the wild, you’re witnessing life or death situations, and it’s a truly humbling experience. We’re used to living in a world where we humans are top predators and life is extremely safe. When you find yourself in an environment where you’re no longer the top predator, it puts things in perspective to see how and where we fall within the food chain. I never thought I’d be excited photographing nature, but I found myself completely entranced by the whole experience and I can’t wait to do it again. ( 27 photos total)

Right . . . they might not like it but a great many of these people enjoy employer-sponsored plans with generous tax perks . . . if they had to pay the fed taxes on the premiums paid by their employers they’d be screaming bloody murder . . . and if tomorrow they lost their insurance and had to go out on the private market with a serious health condition they would discover some love for ACA . . . at least privately.

Since completing a master’s degree in electrical engineering in 2009, Ti Zhao, a self-described education junkie, has continued to take classes. The price for the last eight: $0. “It’s hard for me to imagine ever paying for a class again,” says Zhao, who’s taken free courses from online education services EdX and Coursera. Before, the San Francisco resident spent about $500 [˜ Basic iPad, 2011] per class at a local university’s continuing education program.

For economists, Zhao’s embrace of the Internet’s free cornucopia poses two questions: Does the use of free Web-based goods and services constitute an economic transaction, just as a store owner and a shopper exchange goods for money? If so, how can economists capture these transactions in their calculations of gross domestic product, and should they? GDP is the value of all the goods and services produced in a country. If no money is exchanged when a student takes a free online course, it’s hard to value the service rendered.

…

The bottom line: GDP may miss an additional $34 billion a year in free Web-based goods and services that U.S. consumers use.

From a cost accounting and continuous improvement managers perspective, it is easy to see why productivity gains have decreased. Productivity gains are highly dependent on demand and run rates. Without sufficient demand for goods and services, or uncertain demand, production run rates are dialed back to contain inventories. Inefficiencies then occur, and there is little incentive to innovate and focus on productivity constraints when there is excess capacity. Get the demand level up and productivity will improve. The early productivity gains were I think the result business idling the lowest productivity highest cost capacity in response to the initial demand shock. This would also account for the increase margin percents on reduced revenue. The US and world is in a low demand environment. And with governments continuing to stress deficit reductions the lesser depression goes on. Unfortunately it looks like it will take WWIII for governments to start spending again and put people back to work. Sad considering our counties infrastructure is in need of repair and upgrading. Bottom like if we act like a poor country, we will be a poor country.

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About Barry Ritholtz

Ritholtz has been observing capital markets with a critical eye for 20 years. With a background in math & sciences and a law school degree, he is not your typical Wall St. persona. He left Law for Finance, working as a trader, researcher and strategist before graduating to asset managementRead More...

Quote of the Day

"The largest Asian central banks have gone on record that they are curbing their purchases of US debt. And they are also diversifying their huge reserves, steadily moving away from the dollar. The risks have simply become too many and too serious." -W. Joseph StroupeEditor, Global Events

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